Unfold ?
by AnotherLostChance
Summary: Bizarre. Makes no sense at all. Shikamaru has to figure out what's happened to Temari. Let the story unfold on you.


**DISCLAIMER;**

All _NARUTO_ characters belong to_ Kishimoto_ the original creator of these wonderful characters and story. I only created this story.. out of boredom and frankly.. I do not know at this point what's going to unfold, but keep checking back if you're interested in this story :heart:

It was another peaceful day in Konoha until he received a summoning to see the Hokage. Another (useless) message for a Suna delivery. Shikamaru knew better than to argue with Tsunade, it would just be a waste of energy, there was no talking to that woman! With a huge sigh he rushed home to pack his gear and headed out alone. It had been two days and he was more than half way towards his desired destination when a familiar face greeted him.

"Hey" Shikamaru said casually. "Thanks for meeting me."

"No problem, have you had lunch? I passed an inn about 10 minutes from here."

"No, umm but I don't understand.." Shikamaru looked at Kankuro who didn't seem too pleased to be there. "Where is Te..."

-"She's not coming(!) Sorry, she has other missions to take care of."

"I see." He gently examined Kankuro's obvious distress, just what was going on? Normally Temari would have been the one to meet him.

After the quick stop for lunch, the duo carried on toward Suna in complete silence. Awkward silence. Seriously, not even the wind was making any sort of breeze at all.

_This is just_ _**great **_an annoyed Shikamaru thought to himself, but at least they were making it back to Suna quickly. A few hours passed and they had arrived. Shikamaru delivered his message to Gaara who now was looking older and somehow drained. "If it's not too forward of me Gaara, you look tired."

Gaara simply looked back at the Konoha shinobi as if to agree with his previous statement, before he stood up and walked toward the window. "Yes it has been a long week. The Akatsuki are moving swiftly these days. It's taking a lot of effort to keep up with them." Gaara's voice lacking in vigour but overflowing with obvious concern.

"Where is she?" he hesitantly asked. Not wanting to overstep his boundaries meanwhile trying to drown out the anxieties that had begun to develop upon meeting Kankuro.

"By 'she' I take it you mean Temari?"

Shikamaru replied with a quiet _yes_ before Gaara continued "she's been ill. It's best not to disturb her. I believe your task has been completed, you are therefore dismissed."

He stood there for a brief moment before bowing and exiting the room. That was bizarre, Gaara was being more colder than usual if it was possible. **Just what is going on here?**

Shikamaru for a moment, allowed the information to seep in, but unsatisfied with the information or lack thereof, made his way to Temari's quarters. He knocked on the door and waited for a reply or at least some sort of sound. He knocked again, with slightly more force this time around.

"Temari are you home?" Natsuki had come out from the door across from Temari's residence "Oh Shikamaru it's you! What are you doing here?" she quickly approached him, causing him to step back a few times. Great! There was no boundaries with Natsuki, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Mostly bad. She was a known man-eater all over Suna, even people in Konoha had heard of this one woman. She wasn't an ugly woman, quite the opposite. She knew that she was attractive and used her looks to get whatever she wanted. About a year ago Shikamaru arrived at Temari's door to give her some information on a criminal mastermind and Temari wasted no time in establishing to Natsuki that she was not allowed near him. Shikamaru looked at the scantily clad, hour glass figured girl and quickly looked away.

"Oh, umm..Natsuki-san, nice to see you. I'm here to see Temari."

She smiled. She knew the kind of effect she had on the guy, or at least that's what he was thinking. He was the fly caught in the web and she was the spider about to snack on her pray. "Oh I see, I'm sorry Shikamaru-kun, you see Temari hasn't been home for the past few months. I heard that she got engaged though! Isn't it great news?"

He stood there, blank as a cloudless sky, digesting the newly acquired information at a snail's pace. Now that he thought about it, it had been many months since he last saw her, and even longer since they spoke to each other.

"She got what-?" "Who .. to?" he was tempted to raise an eyebrow but stood there still paralysed.

"Eh I'm not sure. Not many people know, but anyways, why don't you come in for a while. I actually am having a problem with my kitchen window, it just won't budge. Care to help me out?"

He swiftly turned away "please excuse me". Nothing was making any sense to him. Is she away on missions, is she sick or is she engaged? The conflicting information began to eat away at him while he was jumping on the rooftops. He couldn't walk quietly through the village, he needed answers and needed them right now!

The last time Temari had come to Konoha was nearly three months ago. 

_She had given Shikamaru the list of the genins from Suna that would be participating in the upcoming Chuunin exams. She hadn't spoken much and didn't carry that harsh sarcastic personality he had become accustomed to. At the time he ignored the change, thinking she had been tired from the travel. The next morning he waited outside of the hotel, waiting for her. She simply looked at him with no reaction and carried on walking toward the gates. He allowed himself to look at her and he noticed that she was smiling with her wide grin as if to say 'I can't wait to leave this place'. He smiled back at her and they continued on towards the gate. He could have sworn he heard a quiet sniff.._

"Shikmaru? Shikamaru-san it is you isn't it? What are you doing here?" Matsuri who stood right in front of the preoccupied ninja, waved in his face.

"Hi Matsuri. I had a delivery mission, but I'm done now. You look.. good, been training?"

"Training? Oh no, I was doing some gardening, it's my day off."

"You grow plants? In sand? How does that work?" Shikamaru was genuinely surprised although he was reaching a point where nothing would surprise him anymore.

"I ordered some soil from Konoha you dummy! I grow my own fruit and vegetables."

"I see. Well it was nice seeing you, take care of yourself." he stepped to the side and was about to jump onto the next rooftop.

-"PLEASE! Not so fast! I have to talk with you." Matsuri had tightly grabbed his hand and wore a face of concern.

Together they reached Matsuri's home after she made sure that they weren't being followed. Shikamaru kept an eye out too however he was still unaware of the reason why he was doing so, perhaps his ninja instinct had kicked in without him knowing? That's all lies; he would always be a ninja, no matter what. Being cautious was natural to him.

"Shikamaru, it's about Temari.."

"Yeah? What do you know?" he replied pretending to be lazy and uncaring.

_They had reached the gates and Temari had paused beside Shikamaru, just looking through the gates. It was as if she knew something he did not. As if this would be the last time she would walk through the big gate. She turned her face in his direction. He was confused, why was she leaving so darn early anyway! "Guess I'll be seeing you?" She nodded briefly staring directly into his eyes, causing a slight blush to form on his cheeks. _

"_Take care, Crybaby" was all he heard as she walked away. He noticed her stance wasn't as straightforward and rough as usual. She looked vulnerable, incredibly vulnerable. Unable to do anything but stare at her back, he watched in silence as her figure slowly disappeared out of sight._

"Tell me what you know, please Matsuri-chan" not amused by the lengthy silence she offered him instead of information he so desperately wanted.

"Well.. I can't tell you much, but I've been ordered to give you certain details. About four months ago, Temari went on a mission to Ishigakure. One month later she then returned to Ishigakure, and since then hasn't returned home.

"What? She's been gone for three months!" a yell escaped his lungs. This was too bizarre for him to even being to understand. What was happening? Why was he feeling so uneasy about all of this? Was this a joke, or a test he was supposed to pass? That darn _Troublesome woman.._

"Let me continue. She has been in contact with Gaara through messenger birds. Kankuro recognises her hand writing, so we know she is okay, but she isn't giving out any details of her location or any additional information. About two months ago, the final message we received from her stated that she would no longer be a ninja and would be engaged to a civilian whose name is unknown for safety reasons."

"Why didn't you go looking for her? Ishigakure is only a small country, it wouldn't.."

-"It appears as if she sent another message and it was for you to read, it has a lock on it. Your new mission is to open this message and then we can form a search and rescue party. But until then, most of our ninja are away gathering intel on the Akatsuki. Therefore there's not many of us remaining to guard our own village." She paused for a few seconds. "Please Shikamaru-san, do us this favour and help us unlock this message".

"I'll do what I can, please give me the message and I'll start straight away"

Within moments Matsuri had handed over the message and left the room. She was only doing what she had been instructed to do and she made that very clear to Shikamaru –it wasn't that Gaara didn't care for his sister. He simply couldn't afford to appear weak to the opposing nations. It was noble but stupid!

"Matsuri-chan, fetch Kankuro for me? I'll have this open shortly, I need a word with him..


End file.
